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DALLAS TOWNSHIP — As she drove home after a recent play rehearsal, 19-year-old Misericordia University student Olivia Katula pondered her work/life balance.
“Wow. I hope I’m not a career-aholic,” she thought, promising herself she would never be like the main character in “Wit.”
Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, which the Misericordia Players will present at 8 p.m. Oct. 27-29 in Lemmond Theater, centers on an English professor named Vivian who is dying of ovarian cancer and reflecting on a life devoted to scholarship but devoid of warm human relationships.
“The main thing that stands out is, (now that Vivian is ill) she’s craving human attention and affection,” said Adam Ercolani, 19, of Bear Creek, who portrays part of the medical team that is treating Vivian. “That’s what she constantly denied other people.”
With no living family members and no close friends, Vivian at one point has to take a cab to the hospital.
“You pity anyone going through that,” Ercolani said. “You feel complete and utter sorrow for her.”
“It’s very mentally exhausting to play her,” said Angela Berlane Mulcahy, of Wilkes-Barre, who has taken on the lead role.
Vivian endures much suffering during her final months and she may have taken on even more pain by agreeing to a regime of experimental drugs. Her doctor, played by David Lutchko, 18, of Scranton, told her doing so would add to the body of knowledge.
English prof Vivian is all about knowledge, though her realm up to this point has not been scientific research but the work of John Donne, who is famous for his “Death, Be Not Proud” poem and other writings about mortality.
“The whole play rests on the shoulders of Vivian,” said director Scott Colin Woolnough, adding other characters symbolize various themes in the play.
Vivian’s mentor, Dr. Ashford Ph.D., represents scholarly pursuits, the director said, and Dr. Jason Posner, a research fellow who was once enrolled in Vivian’s English class, represents emotional detachment.
Susie, a nurse who offers comfort and encouragement, represents personal connection and Dr. Kelekian, the oncologist, represents the disease that is killing Vivian. “He’s the specter of the cancer,” Woolnough said.
Perhaps Vivian the scholar has been overly strict with her students — “I wish I’d given him an ‘A,’ she muses after Posner gives her a pelvic exam.
Similarly, some members of her medical team may be ignoring her humanity in favor of what they can learn by giving her “the full dose” of experimental drugs. But that situation won’t continue forever, and audience members can take heart. Vivian will experience some kindness and compassion before the end.
